Jason Calacanis Quotes
This concept that starting a company is so hard and that you'll never make it is conspiracy concocted by the rich and powerful to keep you from trying - and you've fallen for it.
Calacanis, Jason. Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups—Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000. Harper Business, 2017.
Every economically successful American had help in amassing is fortune. The police who protected his assets, the roads and canals on which he transported his goods to market and obtained raw material. The labor force that was educated by the state. The patent system that protected his inventions. The money supply that has been made available, the registry of land and property ownerships and deeds. The courts to resolve disputes. The general affluence of the nation to buy his product or services. These have been paid for by the taxes of all Americans. All have helped the successful on their journey to wealth and their ability to keep it from those who would use violence to take it. The successful entrepreneur however has usually made extraordinary effort and exhibited extraordinary talent and skill which is why not everyone is as affluent. No one lifted themselves up by their own bootstraps, but many have with their own talent and work, climbed a very difficult ladder that the nation had in place.
Armstrong was a Union military chaplain with the troops that had captured Petersburg, Virginia. It is interesting how much he and apparently many of the Union Soldiers saw their part in the war as a crusade to reform the South. Also, note that although the South was fighting to preserve the slavery system that benefitted the rich, the rich often did not fight or join the military. Surprisingly to us today, if a man owned a certain number of slaves, he was then exempt from required military service.
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Abrams originated this famous phrase which many have been used subsequently for various “socialized” government benefits that were available to the rich but not the poor. He was referring to the fact that at the time, the government provided housing assistance to the rich by having federally insured mortgages and granting tax deductions for the interest in home mortgages, but there was no assistance to the poor who could only afford to rent and had no tax deductions nor was there any federal public housing assistance. During the Great Recession the phrase was often used when the government gave bail out money to General Motors and the largest banks who were close to bankruptcy, but the landscaping gardener or the hot dog vendor whose business was falling because of the recession were told that is the capitalist system—there are some winners and some losers. The government officials who advocated the bailout did not disagree about the fairness and appropriateness of the Abrams phrase but if they had not bailed the banks out, the entire economic system of the country would probably have collapsed and the ensuing depression would hurt the average worker and the poor even more. Related to the recent “too big to fail” concept.
Describing the annual conference in Davos, Switzerland where the very wealthy of the world gather and discuss mutual concerns.
Jason McCabe Calacanis is an American Internet entrepreneur, angel investor, author and podcaster.
